SNEG reissues several old SSI and Mindscape PC games.

SNEG has released another long list Strategy Simulations Inc. (SSI) and Mindscape games on Steam and GOG as part of their ongoing endeavor to preserve old PC titles.

The games in this most recent release span a broad range of genres and eras. The Phantasie Collection is the first title mentioned. It includes Phantasie 2 (1986), Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus , and Phantasie (1985).(1987). While we're talking about it, even though the series was created by Americans, there was a Phantasie IV: The Birth of Heroes published in 1990, but it was only available on Japanese home computers. That is not covered in this.

Great Naval Battles Collection is the following release, including Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic 1939-1943. (1992), Guadalcanal 1942–1943, Vol. II Vol. III: Fury in the Pacific 1941–1944 (1994) Burning Steel, Vol. IV (1939–1942) (1995). These are all WWII naval strategy games, as you can probably assume.

We have Wargame Construction Set collecting, which carries on the collecting idea. This comprises the first edition from 1986 and Wargame Construction Set II: Tanks! after that.Wargame Construction Set III: Age of Rifles 1846-1905 and (1994) (1996). These seem somewhat like they should be about managing the manufacture of different weaponry, but in reality, they're customisable strategy games.

View via SNEG

Moving on to a la carte titles, we start with the sci-fi RPG Star Command (1988). Prophecy of the Shadow is another. (1992), a fantasy role-playing game that emerged after SSI's DND license loss to Interplay. As a theoretically sequel to Renegade Legion: Interceptor (1990), which hasn't been re-released yet, comes Renegade: Battle for Jacob’s Star (1995). These are games of space warfare. It's interesting to note that both games are adaptations of a board game from FASA (Shadowrun, Battletech). Carnival Fighters Next is (1995), which is, of all things, a fighting game. Last but not least, there's Warbreeds (1998), a classic '90s RTS that lets you change the DNA of your troops to create different configurations.

Since I haven't played any of these games at all, I'm grateful that SNEG is making them accessible. Some of them are easily accessed, even if some are just DOSBox instances running in the background. Releasing all of SSI's D&D games was their most amazing endeavor, but I find it extremely heartwarming that they're delving further into the old library. I was not exposed to much of the PC environment in the 1980s and 1990s, so I've always been curious in what was hidden from view behind the console and arcade scenes.

I may try to check out a few of SNEG's SSI re-releases in 2024.

The games and compilations mentioned above may be found right now on Steam and GOG.